President Hassan Rowhani’s inaugural speech and proposed cabinet picks offered hope to those within Iran and around the world looking for a change from his hard-line predecessor Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.

“I want to restore hope to the Iranian people and fix the economy and get rid of these cruel sanctions,” the moderate cleric said in a speech.

Iran is both under U.N. sanctions and unilateral Western oil and banking sanctions over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, a process that can be used to build nuclear weapons. Iran says the program is aimed at generating electricity and producing treatments for cancer patients.